Check Please!
by Bura-sama
Summary: An AU t/m fic. Do you know what that means? It means that if you're going to flame me because it's not t/p, then don't waste your time. As I said, it's AU, and the characters are OOC (not too bad, but still ooc). Marron is a waitress, and meets a a c
1. Default Chapter Title

Check Please  
Bura-sama  
Monday, December 4, 2000

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim any rights to DBZ/GT. No profit is being made, and no infringement is intended.  
Author Notes: This is AU. This is t/m NOT t/p! So if you are going to flame me for it not being t/p, don't waste your time! I'm happy with this story. That's something very few authors can say on ff.net, or so I've come to believe. And yes, I know they are OOC. Get over it, or don't read!

**PART ONE**

_Dancing dancing  
Floating breathlessly across  
That starry sky of heaven  
Dancing dancing  
Eyes bright and hoping  
That you'll be mine tonight  
Dancing dancing  
The time has come  
For us to stop  
Dancing dancing  
You're not mine tonight._

_Chapter One_

_Fries and milkshake, table four._ Marron set the one tray down and grabbed another. _Steak, salad and soda, table eight_. She picked up an empty plate, and took it back to the kitchen. She went back to the vacant table and wiped it down with the small cloth she took out of her pocket. She took another tray, and went to bring the food to the next customers.

"Marron," her friend called from behind. Marron balanced the tray on one hand and turned to her friend. Pan grinned and pointed back to table five. "They have all six trays." The color drained from Marron's face as she managed to carry two more trays of food. Pan finished clearing off the table she was serving, and grabbed the other three. "Here, I'll help you."

***

"What's taking so long?" Vegeta said with agitation as he looked around for the waitress to bring his food.

"Patience, Vegeta." Bulma said as she too looked for the person to bring their snack - well her dinner and Vegeta and Trunks' snack. She looked at the time. They had ordered four minutes ago, and still hadn't been served. Bulma took a pen from her purse and started filling out the service evaluation card. Just as she started scribbling in her complaint for slow service, her bowl of soup was set on the table.

"Sorry for the delay," the waitress said as she and another started setting the food on the table. "One tomato soup, two clam chowder, four medium-done steaks, six apple pies, three baked potatoes, two egg omelets, one chicken casserole dish, and five rolls?"

Bulma looked over the food, and Trunks started eating. Vegeta almost took a bite, but stopped and turned to the waitress. "That was _twelve_ egg omelets." The girl looked at him skeptically, but started checking the order.

"Okay," she nodded, as Bulma got a glance at the order form. It said two egg omelets. She looked to the girl with sympathy. "I apologize for our error. It will be just a moment please," she started to turn away, but Vegeta caught her wrist.

"These steaks were supposed to be 'rare'."

Bulma scoffed, "Vegeta, I've told you that you can't eat raw meat in public places." She turned to the waitress, "The steaks are fine."

***

"Come on, you know you want to," Pan goaded as she started washing dishes. Her shift was up, and most of the people had already left. She was waiting for Marron to get off, and all the customers were gone except for table five. They were still eating, and had just sent Marron back to bring the teenage girl more soda. Then the younger guy had asked for more ice cream, and the father had been quite rude about it.

Marron scooped the ice cream into the bowl and started putting the cherries on top. "I can't do that," she said as Pan waited for the answer. "If our new manager found out about it, then I'd be out of the job for sure." Both girls looked back to the dining area, where table five was staring at the clock and filling out an evaluation form. "And I need the money."

Pan just sighed and started on Marron's half of the dirty dishes. "If you say so,"

Marron grabbed the soda in one hand and the ice cream in the other.

***

Trunks knew nothing good would come out of the situation when his father started drumming his fingers against the table top, leaving indentions in the surface. The waitress came back, handed the soda to Bra, and set the ice cream before him. 

"It's about time," Vegeta huffed and scowled. "Making my princess wait," Bra smirked and stuck her tongue out at him.

Trunks looked up to the chocolate coated cherries to the girl who was about to turn away. "I don't eat cherries,"

The waitress gave him a disgusted look, took the ice cream in one hand, and glanced at the clock. "What would you like, sir? We close in ten minutes."

***

Pan watched her friend come back through the door, melting ice cream in one hand, and an angry expression on her face.

Pan shook her head sadly and "You know you want to,"

Marron started scooping up the ice cream, and reached for the chocolate syrup bottle. She started pouring it on the ice cream. "I'm not spitting in their food, Pan." The ice cream bottle sputtered and ran empty. "Great, now what am I going to do?"

Pan dried off her hands and went to the storage room. She came back with a dusty bottle of syrup. "Use this."

"Pan, this expired last year." Marron tapped her foot against the floor and looked back to the dining area. The restaurant closed in three minutes.

Pan just shrugged and blew some of the stuff of it. "They'll never notice." She shook the syrup bottle and squirted it on the ice cream. Marron gave a disgusted look and took the ice cream out to the waiting man. Pan grabbed a mop and started cleaning the floors.

***

"He was kinda cute," Pan giggled as she locked the door.

"Hmm..." Marron locked up the dumpster and then came up beside Pan. "Thanks for getting my half of the dishes,"

"No problem," Pan tugged her jacket over her shoulders and shivered against the cool air. "I can't believe they didn't leave you a tip."

Marron sneezed and pulled on her own coat. She had to talk to the new manager about getting new uniforms. "I can." She walked out to the rusty car that she and Pan shared. "I'm going home, how 'bout you?"

Pan shook her head. "I've got to pick up some dry cleaning. See you later,"

_Chapter Two_

_Why did you leave me?  
Why didn't you stay?  
My heart beats so sad,  
When you're away.  
Why did you leave me?  
Why didn't you stay?_

Pan leaned against the rumbling washing machine as she flipped through the pages of her magazine. She smirked at the advertisements, and finally tossed it aside. She put another coin into the machine, and started her second load of clothes. The door slid open, and she looked up to see the purple-haired man from table five. She scowled and picked up the magazine just to have something to do. Although he looked might fine, he had a horrid personality.

"Hello," the guy said and pushed the magazine out of Pan's hands.

Pan scowled and looked at him skeptically. She jerked her magazine out of his hands and started reading again. "What do you want?"

He smiled with confidence and pushed the magazine down again. "Just to talk," he looked down at her waitress uniform. "Pan,"

Pan shivered slightly. She felt that once he knew her name, he knew things about her, that he had some sort of power over her. 'A real snake in the grass,' as her late mother would have said. She scowled, "And your name is?"

The boy blushed. She hesitated to call him boy - he was at least thirty - but had a childish persona that made her see him as a little kid. "Uh .. it's Trunks. Trunks Briefs."

Pan held back a snicker and a comment referring to James Bond and said instead, "Pan. Satan Pan,"

Trunks started to say something, but stopped and grew quiet. "Your grandfather was Mister Satan, wasn't he?"

Pan gave a small nod and temporarily forgot that she was supposed to be making this humiliating for him. "Yeah. My mom..."

Trunks shifted his weight from his right foot to his left foot in the uncomfortable silence. "Yeah, I heard about the accident ... and the fire..."

Pan refrained from mentioning the fact that the fire wasn't an accident, and that her mother and grandfather would be alive today if they hadn't been so close to the truth. She also suppressed the fact that Marron's parents had also been killed in the fire, and that was why they were being waitresses. "What do you want?" she snapped as painful memories started to rise to the surface.

"Uh ... yeah. I wanted to talk about what happened at the restaurant today, and that girl." He blushed at the last part.

"Oh?"

***

Marron shrugged out of her jacket as she came through the back door to the restaurant. The restaurant's two morning cooks were already frying eggs, pancakes, and the usual breakfasts. Marron waved to a few of them, and went to wash her hands.

"Hey," Pan called as she started setting food on trays. "You've got tables three, six, and four,"

Marron nodded and grabbed the tray of coffee, bagels, and omelets. She pushed against the double doors, and she went out to bring people their breakfast. This was her favorite time of day to work at the restaurant. Major meal orders were sparse, and most people just wanted a cup of coffee or an omelet. She smiled, mornings were always good. The day had just started, and the wrong orders and complaints usually didn't come in until dinner. Unless, of course, it was a day like today. The smile left her face, and she walked over to table three.

She set the coffee down, and handed him the bill.

"I ordered a bagel." the purple-haired man coughed and traced his finger along the rim of the of the coffee cup.

Marron, her day ruined, checked the order, which actually did indicate a bagel special, and hurried back to the kitchen.

***

"Why did you do that?" Marron shouted as she grabbed the tray Pan held in her hand.

"He's a nice guy." At Marron's scoff, she added, "Once you get past that arrogance,"

"Well, since he's such a nice guy," she shoved the tray back towards Pan. "Then you bring him his bagel."

Pan watched Marron disappear into the storage room. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and headed out with the bagel.

"Well, Trunks-san, you blew that one." She took a quick glance around the restaurant, and was relieved to see Trunks was the only customer. She took a seat on the opposite bench, and folded her hands under her chin. "What exactly was going through your head just then?"

"I wanted a bagel." He shrugged and blushed as his eyes followed to Marron, who was glaring at them from behind the kitchen door. "I was hungry." He watched as Marron left the kitchen and started sweeping the floor. "She's really special, isn't she?"

Pan turned and looked as her best friend started wiping off the empty tables. "Yep." She glared at Trunks with her best 'strike terror into the hearts of the weak' look. "And, if you're going to jerk her around, then quit now, or you'll have to answer to me."

***

_What are they talking about? _ Marron wiped down another table and moved closer to her friend and the cheap bastard that Pan had poisoned the night before. She groaned as she watched their new no-nonsense manager come through the door. He looked around and spotted Pan not working.

"Miss Satan," Marron rolled her eyes at the manager and started refilling the coffee mug. "Miss Satan, do I need to remind you that you are being paid to work, not to converse and get in the customer's way. Why aren't you working?"

Marron smirked as she held the coffee pot filled with hot, steamy, black coffee, and turned to refill the purple-haired boy's mug. She turned and walked into Mr. Smith, the new manager. The hot coffee spread across his shirt and he jumped back, landing on the tray of hot cinnamon buns. "Oh, Mr. Smith! I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened!"

Mr. Smith struggled to get up, and tipped over three more chairs in the process. He huffed out something incoherent, and jerked his shirt down. "Clean up this mess at once!" He turned to Pan, "And you, get back to work!" He jerked on his coat and stormed out the door.

Pan gave Marron a grateful smile and hurried to the back room. Marron retrieved a mop and began cleaning up the steaming coffee. She looked over the purple-haired guy who was eating his bagel. He looked at her admirably. "What are you looking at?"

He grinned and stuck out his hand. "I'm Trunks."

Marron looked at his hand and went back to moping the floor. "Marron." She looked at him again. "What are you doing here?"

"Will you go to the park with me? After you get off?"

"My shift doesn't end until eleven. And even if it ended earlier, I wouldn't go with you."

He grinned. "You're off on Sunday."

Marron shook her head and mentally cursed Pan for having a big mouth. "No."

"I just want to talk to you for a little while. Are you sure you won't come?"

Marron shrugged and reached for her order form. "What time?"

Trunks grinned.

* * *

Well, that was chapters one and two. Did you like it? Of course, I would like to say that this is not part of the t/p vs. t/m "war". I just happen to like t/m, and I wrote a fic about it. Sorry it's so short!


	2. Default Chapter Title

**Check Please! **part ii  
Bura-sama  


**Chapter Three**

_Just to hold you in my arms  
I would give you anything  
You dare to ask of me,  
Just to keep holding you in my arms  
I would give them anything  
So you could still be in my arms  
But you're not in my arms now  
These tears are all I have_

Marron finished sweeping the floor and wiped the accumulation of dust and dirt from the windows. She looked back at Pan, who was just starting on her share of the dishes. Marron rolled up her sleeves, and went to help her friend. On her way to the sinks, she spotted the bottle of expired syrup Pan had used the day before for Trunks-san. "Do you feel bad about it?"

Pan bit her lip and scrubbed furiously at a plate. "They deserved it," Her mood lightened and she shrugged in a carefree manner. "Besides, nothing happened."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Marron trashed the bottle and went to her side of the sink. "I can't believe he asked me out ..."

***

Trunks let his head rest against the sink as he splashed cool water on his face. He looked in the mirror, to his cold yet sweating face, and got the sudden urge to vomit again. The sharp pain in his stomach subsided for a moment and he looked at his watch. It was almost time for night to fall, on Sunday evening. Dread came over him as he realized he was supposed to have met Marron at the park three hours ago. 

"... Dammit."

He had awoke early that morning to a feeling of nausea, and a headache. After that, he had went downstairs and eaten a hearty breakfast. The nausea had gotten worse, and he had gone back to his room to get ready for his date with the waitress. While putting on his shirt and combing his hair, he had kneeled over and started vomiting, and that had been eight hours before his current state.

_ By now, she thinks that I stood her up._ "Just damn it all to hell."

***

Marron walked softly down the sidewalk as she thought over the days events. She had been stood up, plain and simple. Trunks-san had seemed so honest and admiring the day before, and she had been so reluctant to agree to the date -

_Date?_ she questioned herself. He had never said anything about a date. He had said that he just wanted to talk, to get to know her better, to be her friend. Marron hadn't been living on her own for seven years just to be taken in by lines like those, and had just assumed he wanted a date. To her humiliation, it appeared that he didn't even want that.

"Damn him." She said as tears rolled down her face. She watched the radiant colors of the sunset blend and darken until the first stars could bee seen peeking out behind the clouds. She wiped the tears away from her eyes with her sleeve, and mentally cursed Trunks again. She looked at her surrounding for the first time since she had decided to leave the park, and noticed she was in the bad side of town. Of course, if you were rich and carried your money around with you, then it was all bad; if you were poor, then you didn't have to worry about being robbed. And Marron was 'poor' ... on the surface. If she wanted, she could always draw into the money her parents had left behind, but that would draw the people that killed her parents to Pan like a magnet. She shook her head and watched the stars twinkle in the velvet sky.

"What'cha doing, girlie?"

Marron squeezed her eyes closed and opened them to see the grubby faces of three men. She recognized them as members of a local gang. "I don't have any money, just leave me alone."

"Oh ... who said we wanted money?" The tallest one said.

_Oh no. Not that._ Marron resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes shut again, and looked for a possible escape. She gripped her empty purse in one hand and took off at her highest speed. She was no match for them. One grabbed her shoulder, and a horrible ripping sound was heard as her new blouse was torn. Marron twisted away, but another one grabbed her leg and sent her flying. Pain exploded in her foot as her ankle struck the garbage can. She cried out, but the third man covered her mouth with his hand and tried to smother her. Marron bit down hard, and the salty taste of blood trickled into her mouth. The man let go, and she tried to run. However, her hurt ankle sent her crashing to the sidewalk. 

The biggest of the three leaned over her. He grinned, exposing horridly yellow teeth, and reached for her. The man stopped, his eyes bulged out of his head, and he sunk to the ground in pain. A man with black hair stood behind him, one arm loosing its yellow glow as he let it drop to his side. He looked at the other two as they went of running. "Are you all right?"

***

Pan spat the toothpaste into the sink and put her toothbrush back into the medicine cabinet. She shut the door and looked at her reflection in the mirror. I_ sure don't look twenty-two._

Knock! Knock!

Pan frowned slightly, then remembered Marron was supposed to be stopping by to tell her about the date with Trunks-san. _Oh, I hope it went well..._

She put on her best smile and opened the door. Her grin fell when she saw her best friend being carried by a black-haired guy. Her ankle was badly swollen, and her brand-new blouse was ripped from the shoulder down. "Marron!" She helped Marron stand up and took her to the couch.

***

"It's broken," he said matter-of-factly.

"No it's not," Marron protested and tried to hold still as Pan and the stranger examined her ankle.

"No, it's not." Pan agreed and rewrapped the swollen joint with fresh bandages. "It's twisted." She turned to the new guy. "Who are you?"

He blushed and shuffled back and forth between his feet. "Son Goten."

Marron smiled, despite her pain, and reached to shake his hand. "Thank for the help, Goten-san. I'm Marron." She looked over to a distracted Pan. "And this is my best friend, Pan."

"Pleasure to meet you," Goten-san said and reached to shake her hand. Pan looked at him, not really seeing him, and turned to a picture of her mother.

"Pan, are you alright?" Marron struggled to sit up, but kept falling back on her sore ankle. "What's wrong?" Pan didn't answer her, and she saw Goten looking at her strangely. "She normally isn't like this,"

"I've got to go," Goten said and started backing away. Soon, Marron heard the door shut and automatically lock.

"Okay, Pan. What's wrong?"

"Before - " tears formed in her eyes. "Before Okasan died, she told me a little about my father." Marron remained silent. "His name was _Son_ Gohan."

**Chapter Four**

_Where are you going?  
How could you leave?  
I thought we had something so special  
Now you left me here to cry.  
But I'm not going to cry.  
These tears are not mine.  
You left me alone.  
Without anyone._

Trunks groaned as he looked at the food on his plate. His mother looked at him expectantly, and he started eating.

"So Trunks," Bra asked as she finished eating her cereal. "I heard you stood up your date with the waitress girl,"

"I didn't leave her there," Trunks stuffed a roll into his mouth. "I was sick."

"Uh-huh." Bra twirled a lock of hair between her fingers in a ditz way. "Uh, yeah. I like _so_ believe you there, bro."

Trunks shuddered. "Don't do that,"

"Do what?" Bra asked, her voice once again normal.

"Act like an airhead. It's so degrading."

***

"Well, well, well." Mr. Smith said as Marron limped through the doorway. "If it isn't Miss Marron and Miss Satan, late again. That will be deducted from your pay, ladies."

"Yes sir, Mr. Smith." Pan replied promptly and help Marron into a chair. "You get these orders ready, and I'll take over your job."

Marron nodded and scooted next to the counter. "No problem."

"Just keep off your feet, and you should be fine." Pan smiled and went to hang her coat up in the storage room.

"Miss Satan," the manager's voice caught her by surprise, and she turned to look at Mr. Smith. "Why aren't you working?"

"Marron was hurt, so we switched duties. I'm on my way to the dining area right now."

Mr. Smith looked at his watch. "Pay deducted for not clearing it with me. Now, get to work!"

***

"You've got some nerve," Pan-san said as she set the bagel in front of Trunks. He took it, bit into it, and started coughing.

"What is in this thing?"

Pan looked around for Mr. Smith, and sat down, "Freshly squeezed lemon juice. Just for you." Before he could speak, Pan motioned him into silence with a grave look on her face. "You screwed up, Trunks-_kun_. You'd best not come back to this restaurant anytime soon, understand?" She gave a meaningful look back towards the kitchen. "See, we're all friends here." She motioned to the chefs and the few other waitresses. "And you went and messed with Marron's feelings. That's not good for you. Not if you eat in this restaurant. Now Trunks-_kun_, I told you when I first met you, don't jerk my friend around, and what did you do? You stood her up." She didn't even give Trunks a chance to speak as she slid out of the booth seat and laid the bill on his ruined bagel. "Please pay up front."

"But, it wasn't my fault..." he trailed off as he watched Pan-san disappear into the kitchen.

***

"What did bitch-boy want?" Marron asked as she looked over the new orders.

Pan started at her dumbfounded. "What did you call him?" she asked with her voice almost laughing. Marron looked at her quizzically. "It's just that ..." Pan started laughing. "I never thought I'd here you call someone that!"

Marron just shrugged. "What did he say?"

Pan grabbed a few trays of food. "Don't know. He never said." She looked out into the dining area. "But he's gone now."

"Hmm..." Marron handed Pan another tray of food and watched her disappear into the dining area. She was about to start filling orders, when she saw Goten-san come through the door. She was about to call out to him, but she saw the person next to him.

***

Goten looked around the restaurant he had seen his best friend come out of. He turned and looked down at Bra, who was taking a seat next to a potted plant. He sat across from her and waited for the waitress to show up. So this is where Marron works. Not what I was expecting.

"May I take your order please?" Pan-san was staring at her order pad and tapping her foot lightly. She looked up to the customers. "Oh, hi Goten-san," Her gaze caught on Bra and her smile faded. "Miss Briefs."

"How is Marron-san?" Goten asked as politely as he could.

Pan nodded her head, "Better. Thanks for asking," she shot a cold look to Bra. "Are you two ready to order?"

***

Trunks walked down the sidewalk with a depressed demeanor. He looked through the shop windows, but didn't stop for anything. _How could I have been so stupid?_ he asked himself as he continued his walk home. _I just showed up at the restaurant, wanting to explain. Like she'd listen anyway. Stupid, stupid, stupid._

"Flowers, young man?" A woman called and Trunks looked over to her. She was standing behind a cart full of roses and other assorted flowers. "Special price today."

Trunks walked over and looked through the plants.

***

"You know you're welcome to stay at my place," Pan offered as they boarded the elevator.

"Thanks, but no." She leaned against her makeshift crutch and waited as the machine shakily brought them to the second floor. Pan gathered up her bag of groceries and waited for the doors to creak open. Marron looked down to her own paper bag filled with food and smiled wistfully. "Sometimes I wish we had a bell boy."

Pan grinned and stepped out of the elevator, keys in hand. "Do you want me to help you carry those?"

Marron shook her head and tapped against the bag with her uninjured foot. "I'll manage. Good night, Pan." she called as the elevator doors hissed shut. Marron leaned against the wall and sighed as she shifted her weight to her unharmed foot. Her twisted ankle was resting against the grocery bag, and the sudden jerk of the stopping elevator painfully jarred it.

"Can I help you, miss?" a man asked and Marron looked up to see a delivery-service uniformed boy grabbing her bags. He looked down the hall, "Which number?"

Marron gratefully grinned, then noticed the bouquet of flowers in his hand. "302."

The man led her to the door, then deposited the bag next to the entrance. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "Are you Marron - " Marron nodded quickly and unlocked the door. The delivery boy grinned. "Then these are for you," he handed her the bouquet of pink roses. "Good day, miss," he turned and left. Marron read the card.

"Dammit, Trunks-kun. Just leave me alone."


End file.
